


Reasons Jongin Should Not Take the Subway

by sunlitroads



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 13:32:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16577444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunlitroads/pseuds/sunlitroads
Summary: Jongin did not see Reason Six coming.





	Reasons Jongin Should Not Take the Subway

**Author's Note:**

> first posted - 17 Nov 2014  
> i've never actually been to Viva Polo. also there's a scene where Lu Han quotes the [translated lyrics of Love, Love, Love](http://www.kpoplyrics.net/exo-love-love-love-lyrics-english-romanized.html). written for [](https://adeerandadancer.livejournal.com/profile)[**adeerandadancer**](https://adeerandadancer.livejournal.com/); originally posted [here](http://adeerandadancer.livejournal.com/13467.html)  
> 

  
  
  
For the past year Jongin's taken the same route home via train, switching lines three—sometimes four—times to get back from the restaurant he's been working at. He's gotten so used to it that he could easily make his way from Viva Polo to his apartment in his sleep—which, incidentally, is how it feels sometimes, after a really busy shift.  
  
But even with his eyes half-closed Jongin can recognize some of these faces. There's Newspaper Uncle, Respectably Healthy Grandma, K-Star Wannabe 1, K-Star Wannabe 2, and Miss Korea: Subway Edition, who actually looks like she _could_ be a celebrity. The latter catches Jongin's eye and he nods, keeping his gaze on her until she seductively bites her lip and winks.  
  
She really is attractive; it's too bad he's playing for the other team.  
  
Jongin looks away then, not wanting to give her the wrong idea, and spots a guy across—now _there's_ someone Jongin wouldn't mind getting seduced by. The doe-eyed stranger, Jongin thinks, pulls off the bubblegum-colored hair look effortlessly, and does not deserve to be named K-Star Wannabe 3 at all. So Jongin takes in his pleasant features and MCM backpack, and decides on calling him Cute Backpack Guy instead. Perfect.  
  
That is, until Jongin realizes that he's never seen Cute Backpack Guy before and Cute Backpack Guy is taking the same lines and going into the same compartments as he is. Jongin figures he might just be paranoid, though, so he conducts a little experiment before taking his last train.  
  
Jongin takes his time, separating himself from Newspaper Uncle and the rest of the gang, who make their way to the staircases while Jongin dawdles on the platform. He buys a cup of iced coffee from the vending machine and regrets it immediately, knowing he'll be staying up most of the night because of this. He loses Cute Backpack Guy, at least, and reluctantly gulps down his drink before walking to the stairs.  
  
Caffeine still buzzing in him, Jongin continues to dally by browsing the shops on the way, thinking the extra legwork might tire his body enough to head straight to bed once he's home. He looks through handphone cases and then spends a tad too much time at the clothes stall before realizing they're not meant for someone with something sticking out between their legs.  
  
Just as Jongin's about to apologize to the amused-looking owners and run far, far away from the shop, he sees _him_. Cute Backpack Guy hums an odd-sounding song as he withdraws a bright red halter top from the rack.  
  
He doesn't end up apologizing in the end, but he _does_ run, far, far away from Cute Backpack Guy until he reaches the platform where his train's already waiting. Jongin jumps into the nearest compartment, stepping on someone's shoe and knocking the glasses off a little girl.  
  
"S-sorry," he mutters to the crowd, relief flooding his senses when the doors close and there's no sign of Cute Backpack Guy anywhere.  
  
The relief is short-lived, however, when the train starts to move and said guy appears by the stairs, staring at him. It's right then that Jongin considers retaking that driving test, because, obviously, there are really good reasons he shouldn't take the subway anymore, the first being that he _will_ be stalked.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Whoa, buddy, you look like—and I say this with so much love—shit," someone says, voice impossibly loud in his ears over the clanging of utensils and plates, and the general chatter of the restaurant.  
  
Jongin turns to look at the speaker, and smiles. Chanyeol of House Park, Son of the Original Viva Polo Owners, Giver of Grins, and recently proved Master of Brutal Honesty. Jongin smacks him upside the head. "Thanks. I feel much better now."  
  
Chanyeol hisses through a grin, rubbing the back of his head. "Good. Now shouldn't you be at your section instead of smacking the Guest of Honor in the kitchen?"  
  
"Yeah, let's just hope your parents didn't see that," Jongin says with a smirk. "Wouldn't want them to see their precious Yeollie Pollie get hurt."  
  
Chanyeol laughs like it's the funniest thing, and Jongin doesn't quite know if he's more amused by the silly nickname Jongin's just made up, or by the image of his parents crowding and cooing at him for being harmlessly slapped on the head. Jongin ends up laughing at the sight of Chanyeol laughing.  
  
"Taeyeon's covering my section, by the way," he tells Chanyeol once they've recovered. "I'm on break right now."  
  
"Ah. You look like you really need one."  
  
"I know," Jongin sighs. "Barely slept last night."  
  
Chanyeol frowns at him. "How come?"  
  
"Had a cuppa joe on my way home. And before you say anything, I only did it because I was being stalked."  
  
"Huh." Chanyeol's frown deepens. "I'm not following you—although apparently someone else was."  
  
"He _was_." And so Jongin tells Chanyeol the story of how Cute Backpack Guy never walked ahead of him, always trailing behind and even appearing at the shop for women's wear when Jongin thought he'd lost him. How the guy looked Jongin in the eye when the train was about to leave, and how Jongin's now too afraid to take the subway again in case Cute _Stalker Creep_ is—  
  
"Wait," Chanyeol interrupts, palm on Jongin's face. "You found out some creep is stalking you, so you change two-thirds of his name but save the 'Cute'?"  
  
"W-well, I, well," Jongin stammers beneath Chanyeol's palm. "He's really cute, okay?"  
  
"Oh, I see," he says with a widened grin, nodding knowingly at Jongin when he takes his palm off. "You _like_ your stalker."  
  
" _What_? No, I don't, shut up. I _hate_ him."  
  
"Hear, hear," Taeyeon grumbles from the door, rolling her eyes as she enters the kitchen. "I hate him, too."  
  
"I don't think we're talking about the same person here, noona."  
  
"Does it matter?" Taeyeon huffs, leaning against the counter. A few loose strands fall out of her bun, and she takes them between manicured fingers, tucking the strands behind an ear. "I'm sorry, Jongin, but I will _kill_ myself if I have to cover your section again. If I don't end up killing Baekhyun first, that is."  
  
"But I _love_ Baekhyun!"  
  
Taeyeon narrows her eyes. "You love _everyone_ , Chanyeol."  
  
"That is true," Jongin agrees, then gives the guy a sympathetic look. "You're a love-whore, hyung."  
  
"Whatever," Chanyeol mumbles, picking up the guitar bag he had settled against the wall, heading for the door soon after. "It's much better being a love-whore than to be full of pretense-hate, like you two."  
  
"' _Pretense-hate_ '?" Taeyeon echoes, folding her arms.  
  
Jongin responds by pointing his finger at his own ear, then rotating it until Taeyeon nods and laughs.  
  
  
  
  
  
Cute Stalker Creep makes another appearance that night and, being the generous samaritan that he is, Jongin lets his stalker follow him into his last train, where Jongin strikes up a conversation with Respectably Healthy Grandma and asks her where she had come from.  
  
Respectably Healthy Grandma talks his ear off for the duration of their ride together, and Jongin learns that she has one dead husband and fifteen grandchildren, and that her favorite flowers are crysanthemums, but not the answer to his initial question, nor her real name. Perhaps she'll tell him the next time they meet.  
  
Three stops later, and two stops before Jongin has to alight, Cute Stalker Creep takes up the space the old lady just vacated. "Everyday, I look for someone like you," is the first thing he says to Jongin, effectively upping his creepiness. "After meeting you, I've started to circle around you like this."  
  
Jongin blinks. "Yeah. I know. And could you stop that? I'd appreciate it if you _didn't_ follow me around."  
  
His stalker frowns. "Me who's looking at you, looking at me, looking at you. Only you make me shine," he says earnestly. "I can see the future!"  
  
Jongin gets out of the train one stop too early, wrapping his jacket around for protection. The creep is looking excitedly at him from where he's still standing in the train, and Jongin's glad he hadn't followed him out this time. Then again, that just means he might be there the next time Jongin takes the train.  
  
Reason Two, as to why he shouldn't take the subway: he _will_ receive super weird comments from some crazy, cute guy.  
  
  
  
  
  
He'd guessed right that day; the creep really _is_ back when Jongin has to take the train again. He hasn't worked in two days, so he'd thought that Cute Stalker Creep would've grown tired of chasing after Jongin, had he been trying to do so in the last two days, that is.  
  
Yet there he is, sporting his bubblegum hair and clutching his cream-colored backpack as he gives Jongin's body a scan. Jongin cocks his head, daring the other to say something inappropriate around so many witnesses.  
  
"You'd make a great model."  
  
_So would you_ , Jongin thinks but doesn't say. He tries to focus on how wrong the other's comment had been, but there's the telltale stinging in his cheeks—Jongin is _blushing_. Well, crap.  
  
"Especially with a face like that," the creep adds, smiling. "In fact, you'd be perfect for my upcoming campaign!"  
  
"Excuse me, what?"  
  
"Here." He scoots over next to Jongin and holds up his backpack, opening and revealing its contents a moment later.  
  
"Is that -" Jongin peers in "- shampoo?"  
  
"And conditioner, and hairspray, and gel, and wax. Now, the wax, is what I'm most proud of. We love wax for its styling capabilities, but it makes our hair feel like a bird's carcass, doesn't it? All hard and dry. But now _this_ -" he takes a small bottle out "- this bad boy leaves your hair feeling smooth and silky, _while_ holding your hair up just the way you need it to."  
  
"Uh, no thanks. I'm not interested in buying—"  
  
"I'm not asking you to _buy_ them, silly," the other scoffs, keeping the bottle of wax in his bag and zipping it up. "I'd like to recruit you, and your _face_ will then ask other guys like me and you to buy these products."  
  
"Tell me you didn't just say 'like me and you,' like we're similar in any way," Jongin says, cringing.  
  
"Think about it." He slips a card in Jongin's hand. "My products, your face. We'd be _dynamic._ "  
  
Jongin looks at the sleek, black card between his fingers. _LittleDeer Co Ltd, Luxury Male Hair Products by Lu Han_ along with a couple of phone numbers on one side, and a drawing of a deer with a badass hairdo centered on the other.  
  
The card looks pretty legit, as far as Jongin can tell, and the guy's gotten twenty times as cute in the last few minutes, but there's no way _Jongin_ , of all people, can be a model. A _model_? What is this guy, insane? Jongin thinks about their encounters so far. Huh. He might just be.  
  
Thankfully, the screen diagonally above indicates that they're approaching his stop, so Jongin keeps awkwardly silent as the other rambles on about his line of products, until the vehicle comes to a halt and the doors open. Jongin walks out sighing, finally free from having to answer to some creepy stalker who's turned out to be anything but. He's just a desperate, eccentric salesman after all. What a relief, right?  
  
Jongin can still hear him, going on about how his commercials and posters would look like, and what Jongin would have to do in said mediums. It's not all that bad—that shampoo and wax dude actually has a rather nice voice—but it's weird just how _clear_ his voice is, almost as if—  
  
"You're still here?!" Jongin shouts to his right, and a few heads snap to look at him and.. and... "What _is_ your name? Because I've been calling you 'Cute Backpack Guy' in my head. Although I did change it to 'Cute Stalker Creep' recently, but, anyway—"  
  
"You think I'm cute?"  
  
" _No_ ," he says slowly.  
  
"I'm Lu Han," the guy tells him, extending a hand. "Says so on the card."  
  
"Right." Jongin pockets said card and shakes Lu Han's hand. "I'm Kim Jongin."  
  
"Pleasure to be doing business with you, Kim Jongin."  
  
" _No_ ," he repeats, letting go. "I will _not_ be doing business with you. And aren't there rules or something, for when you're scouting for people to work for you? Rule 1 being to not follow them train to train?"  
  
And as Jongin walks away and leaves a dumbfounded Lu Han behind, he thinks about Rule 2, which happens to be affiliated somehow with Reason Three, the latter being: he _will_ be harrassed.  
  
  
  
  
  
Chanyeol drops by the day after Jongin learns Lu Han's name, keeping his promise to help out his folks at the restaurant, and subsequently bother his friends, twice a week. The owners' son seems even happier than his usual self today, singing to himself in the kitchen and drumming on tables whenever he gets the chance. Jongin wants to ask, but it's the weekend, so his curiosity simply grows for hours before he can satiate it.  
  
It's well past his usual lunchtime when Jongin finally gets let off for break, and he pulls Chanyeol aside, demanding to know why he's blinding every staff and customer with his face.  
  
"We're closing early tonight," Chanyeol whispers excitedly, "to celebrate. Someone wants to buy my songs—not just one, Jongin, they want _three_!"  
  
"That's _awesome_!" Jongin exclaims, and somehow the words don't do much justice to just how awesome it really is, and how Jongin feels, so he thumps Chanyeol's chest.  
  
The songwriter laughs and pushes him away. "Is that how you show you're happy for your hyung?"  
  
"Yes, and stop whining."  
  
Chanyeol tilts his head and gives a slanted smile, hands coming up to cross over his chest. "I'm so touched, Jongin, thank you."  
  
"Shut up. Now tell me about how rich you're going to get, and how much of your fortune you're giving me."  
  
"Sure, sure. But first -" he holds up a familiar black card "- tell me about this Lu Han of yours."  
  
Jongin makes a swipe for the card, but Chanyeol moves his hand expertly to the side. "Give it back, Chanyeol."  
  
"Aw, you're such a possessive boyfriend," the older tuts.  
  
"You know what, hyung, you can keep it. Or throw it. I really don't care."  
  
"Are you sure? Because I strongly recall catching you taking this out of your pocket several times to thumb over the words, or to simply look at it~"  
  
"Damn it, Chanyeol, I did _not_ do that."  
  
"Oh, please. You looked at this card almost as many times as Taeyeon looked at Baekhyun today."  
  
Before he can ask, Chanyeol motions at the door, and Jongin opens it just enough to see Taeyeon serving Baekhyun, looking vexed. And then Jongin sees it; the way Baekhyun looks at her and the way Taeyeon runs her teeth over her lips again and again, fingers in her hair even though there are no loose strands this time.  
  
"Whoa," Jongin says once he returns to Chanyeol's side, pretty amazed by what he'd just seen. "I thought she couldn't stand him."  
  
"You two amuse me," Chanyeol laughs, shaking his head. "Your need to pretend to hate these guys are so strong, when it's so much easier to just admit that you don't."  
  
Jongin folds his arms and holds his head high. "I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"This." Chanyeol slides the card on the counter and gives it two taps. "Call him."  
  
  
  
  
  
A week goes by without seeing even a glimpse of Lu Han. Not that Jongin cares, of course. He didn't care yesterday, when he spotted a cream-colored MCM backpack but not the cute salesman with the bubblegum hair who's supposed to carry it.  
  
He hadn't cared that night either, when he was celebrating Chanyeol's success with the Parks, and saw some kid eating pink candy floss, panicking for a moment because he thought Lu Han lost a metre and was being attacked.  
  
No, he definitely did not care. He showed that by taking up more shifts and working every single day this week, leaving the restaurant and making his way home at the usual time. Taking the subway at the usual time. _Not_ bumping into Lu Han at the usual time. He doesn't care about that last bit at all.  
  
_Fine._  
  
Jongin isn't kidding anyone, anyway. His feelings are as certain as the Sun is hot, and as obvious as Taeyeon's own feelings for Baekhyun—she's been working the whole week, too, after Chanyeol casually told her that Baekhyun was planning to stop by everyday for some unknown reason. (Jongin suspects it's really just a ploy to see how the waitress would react.)  
  
All he has to do now is simply admit it.  
  
Jongin rests his head against the train door and sighs.  
  
Reason Four: he _will_ miss the guy who harrassed him.  
  
  
  
  
  
The reception area in Lu Han's office is a sensually lit, nicely decorated, interestingly oval-shaped place. LittleDeer products, though quite small in number, are neatly arranged on several floating shelves. The two-seater couch against the wall looks expensive and sturdy, and feels just the right amount of comfortable when Jongin sits on it.  
  
Everything about the waiting room alone impresses Jongin; everything except the squinty receptionist standing by the desk, tapping his foot and pursing his lips in disapproval. A golden name plate suggests the unhappy receptionist is Do Kyungsoo, and Jongin adds said name to the List of People who Scare Kim Jongin's Pants Off.  
  
"Kim Jongin," someone says, and Jongin finally takes his eyes off Kyungsoo, blinking repeatedly as Lu Han slowly materializes from his office. "Pleasure to be doing business with you."  
  
Jongin smiles; Kyungsoo scoffs.  
  
He stares at Kyungsoo again, the latter's foot still tapping, arms still folded. "Problem?"  
  
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and unfolds his arms, walking over to Lu Han. "Yes, _problem_ ," he mocks, draping an arm around Lu Han's shoulders. Jongin's not at all jealous, or feeling suddenly and irrationally territorial. " _You're_ Problem."  
  
Lu Han's smile only widens. He looks far too comfortable next to Kyungsoo, Jongin thinks. "Come now, Kyungsoo, be nice."  
  
" _Nice_? I didn't become your manager to be told to be _nice_."  
  
"Wait, hold up." Jongin checks the name plate again. "I thought you were just his receptionist."  
  
"Actually, I was just his financial advisor at first," Kyungsoo informs.  
  
"Yes, and your first advice was to get rid of the receptionist _and_ my manager," Lu Han says with a slight shake of the head, before looking almost apologetically at Jongin. "Well, to be fair, the previous receptionist _was_ a nightmare."  
  
"See?" Kyungsoo says impassively. "And Joonmyun hyung was too easy on you—he let you go through with all your crazy schemes and what's that given us? Nothing."  
  
"You let me go through with _this_ one, though," Lu Han points out, gesturing at Jongin.  
  
"You told me he was an _actual_ model. But Problem over here looks _nothing_ like the sort."  
  
Why, thank you, Do Kyungsoo.  
  
"But he _does_. He's everything I want to see next to my products, and more."  
  
"I can't believe I let you waste 50,000 won on your T-money card, for someone like _him_."  
  
Jongin is right here.  
  
"We can look for someone better, just shoo Problem out."  
  
Still right here.  
  
Lu Han makes a face at Kyungsoo and lifts the other's arm off of him. "Problem—I mean, _Jongin_ —sorry, Jongin— _is_ the 'someone better'. He—Jongin, _you_ are exactly what we're looking for."  
  
"What your _dick_ is looking for, maybe," Kyungsoo grumbles, and Lu Han laughs awkwardly, poking his manager. "Oh, please. Do I need to remind you about the 38,500 won you spent on _crysanthemums_?"  
  
"Crysanthemums?" Jongin eyes Lu Han suspiciously. "Isn't that - "  
  
"- the kind of flowers the old lady you talked to really likes?" Lu Han offers, looking embarrassed and extremely adorable— _damn_. "Yeah. I bought them for you the day after I gave you my card, but you weren't there."  
  
The day after Lu Han gave his card had been the day Jongin hung out with the Parks to celebrate Chanyeol's songs being bought. It also happens to be the day Jongin thought Lu Han had shrunk and was being eaten hair-first by a little boy.  
  
" _Why_ , though? It's _her_ favorite, not mine. I don't even like flowers?"  
  
"Yeah. Pretty stupid, huh?" Lu Han gives a nervous giggle and scratches the side of his head. Kyungsoo's back to folding his arms again. "Which is why I ended up giving the flowers to the old lady."  
  
"Oh," Jongin coos, "that's so nice of you."  
  
"Ha!" Kyungsoo exclaims. "You should hear the rest of that story."  
  
"What's the rest of that story?"  
  
Lu Han shifts where he stands, hesitating for a long moment before he sighs and says, "she couldn't tell who I was so she thought I was a creepy predator. I, uh, ended up getting hit in the face by an old lady with crysanthemums."  
  
The last does it. Jongin grips the edge of the couch and guffaws, while Kyungsoo smirks, silently enjoying Lu Han's humiliation.  
  
"Well.. you are.. a creep," Jongin wheezes in between laughs.  
  
"Exactly," Kyungsoo agrees. "A creep whose company is losing money because he's been thinking with the wrong head. And that's saying something, seeing how LittleDeer products are all about the hair that's _on top_."  
  
"Look - " Jongin stands up. Cue the uplifting, patriotic music. " - I haven't done any modelling in my life before but I really am interested. If I'm really what you've been looking for - "  
  
"You're not," Kyungsoo interjects. Music becomes distorted, then comes to an abrupt stop. Well, the next reason on Jongin's list is obvious; Reason Five: he _will_ meet one of satan's spawns, who then ruins his thunder.  
  
"Don't listen to him," Lu Han says, taking Jongin by the arm and leading him into his office. Jongin's skin tingles. "Let's talk it out over here. _Alone._ "  
  
Once Lu Han's closed the door, Jongin falls onto a chair and buries his face in his hands. "Maybe he's right, maybe I _should_ be shooed out. I don't really know why I called you, or why I even agreed to meet you here." He looks up at Lu Han, who's still standing by the door. "All I know is I can't spend another day waiting on people and wondering if Taeyeon wants to rip Baekhyun's clothes off out of hatred, or something else entirely."  
  
Lu Han squints in reply.  
  
"I _love_ the Parks; I love working for them, but seeing Chanyeol happy that day, and _feeling_ happy for him, for doing something useful with his life? It just made me want to do something useful with _my_ life. You know, make someone else happy for me."  
  
A silence falls between them as Lu Han considers him for a while, and Jongin takes a few breaths to gather his own thoughts. Then, Lu Han leans against the edge of his desk, and Jongin looks up at him, expecting another weirdly sentenced, strangely inspirational string of statements.  
  
Instead, Lu Han gives him some pretty solid advice.  
  
"Jongin, I don't know who those people you've just mentioned are," he starts. Jongin notices Lu Han isn't like most of his friends; he doesn't talk with his hands. "And I don't know if becoming a hair model for my products will make you feel what Chanyeol felt. Totally relevant to the topic—who is this Chanyeol; your brother, a friend, boyfriend, what?"  
  
"Oh, he's just a friend," Jongin answers, shrugging. Then, daringly, he adds, "don't worry."  
  
Lu Han does that awkward laugh thing again. Nailed it, Jongin thinks.  
  
"Alright, so I'm not going to make you do somethng you wouldn't really want to do. I just think you have really great potential, and an even greater face, just sayin'." He winks, Jongin's cheeks burn. "I think you should find something you'd enjoy doing, and go for it. Quit your current job, but only after you've secured that new one."  
  
Jongin bites his lip. "What if.. what if I've found something I might enjoy doing, and I'm just looking at my could-be employer expectantly?"  
  
Said could-be employer smiles, and Jongin returns it with an even bigger one. "Then I say quit your job soon, because Kim Jongin - "  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
" - you're hired."  
  
  
  
  
  
Lu Han had given him four months to get a feel for the new lifestyle and decide if he wants to continue working for LittleDeer. ("Like a probation thng, but our roles are switched— _you_ will be assessing _me_.")  
  
The first month, Jongin watched Lu Han and Kyungsoo bicker over the project budget. For the second _half_ of that month, Jongin's hair turned bleach blonde and crazy dry, which only spurred Kyungsoo to hit Lu Han on the head with a clipboard. Jongin shot a scene the very next day.  
  
At the start of the second month, Jongin started using the LittleDeer products, which earned Lu Han a ton of death glares from his receptionist cum manager cum financial advisor Do Kyungsoo. ("Now you're wasting _produce_ on him?") Jongin had a photo taken every single day for two weeks, and lo and behold, just like Lu Han said, his hair really did get softer and more manageable in just 14 days.  
  
They spent the next week shooting and perfecting the entire commercial, and Jongin saw that his hair wasn't the only thing softening around here. Kyungsoo was, too.  
  
When they reached the third month, Jongin sought Chanyeol's help. Chanyeol's considerably big in the music industry now, and even then he had demands left and right, but he declined a bunch of better offers for his friend. By the time they approached mid-month the scenes were spliced into a full commercial, Chanyeol's pleasant yet catchy jingle playing throughout.  
  
The fourth month went by in a blur. After the commercial showed, Jongin became an instant star. Companies were calling in, wanting him to promote _their_ products; to wear _their_ clothes, and he let Kyungsoo decide what he should be assigned to.  
  
Lu Han's products became so popular that even the women desired them, and experts wanted to work with him on a new line, specially made for female use. Even smaller companies created knockoffs, which simply meant that more money would be brought in after a sue or two.  
  
'Probation' period is over, and Jongin knows that Lu Han isn't pulling him aside for a simple donut. Then again, a donut _would_ be a good enough reason to pull someone aside.  
  
"Well?" is all Lu Han says, and it's all he has to say, really, to snap Jongin out of his donut-filled reverie.  
  
"I'm staying," Jongin tells him, nodding as emphasis.  
  
He thinks Lu Han's eyes might be sparkling. "You are?" They _are_ sparkling, Jongin decides. Looks cute on him. "That-that's great. I'm really glad. I mean, I've enjoyed having you around."  
  
"I've enjoyed having you around, too." His gaze hardens. "You know, in the no-longer-following-me-around-train-to-train kind of way."  
  
Lu Han chuckles, easy and sort of relieved, and not at all awkward. "Well, I don't know about 'no longer'. . ."  
  
Now Jongin's laughing, too, and they stay like that a while, stealing each other's air and touching and holding fingers, arms, shoulders until the laughing stops and Jongin's simply taking in Lu Han's smile, and the way his chest still heaves slightly.  
  
Lu Han's hand slides across Jongin's shoulder and cups his cheek. "I'd like to kiss you now. Is that okay?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Good," Lu Han breathes, eyes closing as his lips reach for Jongin's.  
  
Jongin lowers his head a little, dipping in just enough for their lips to meet graciously. There are strangers, acquaintances and friends on the other side of that unlocked door; people who would love a juicy story about two guys making out, and they don't exactly have the luxury of a long first kiss, but for now... For now, he'll focus on what they _do_ have.  
  
His hands settle on Lu Han's waist and hair, just as the latter parts his lips invitingly, guiding Jongin on a lovely little journey with his tongue. Lu Han tastes just like the glazed mini donut he'd eaten minutes ago, and Jongin licks, sucks and drinks it in, intoxicated by the sweetness of Lu Han's mouth.  
  
Jongin wonders if Lu Han's skin is tingling as much as his is.  
  
The pace of their kissing slows, and Jongin withdraws his tongue, taking Lu Han's lips between his own and puckering before letting go, only to have his own lips taken by Lu Han's. They take turns again and again, and their kiss ends like that, gently and almost reluctantly broken, both of them breathing onto each other.  
  
Lu Han speaks first. "Thank you."  
  
"Well, if you hadn't asked, I would've."  
  
Lu Han glances at the door, then dares a peck on Jongin's cheek. "Sorry. I just really wanted to do that."  
  
Jongin replies with a soft "that's okay" and a peck, too, on Lu Han's cheek. "I wanted to do that, too. I also want more donuts."  
  
"Yeah, we should probably head outside."  
  
"I can just _feel_ Baekhyun watching that door, waiting for us to open it so that he and Taeyeon can come in here."  
  
Lu Han visibly shudders. "Remind me to _lock_ the door when we're out. I've seen what those two do in a room alone, and I do _not_ —" He shudders again, then straightens his shirt before walking to the door, not bothering to finish his sentence. Jongin doesn't mind.  
  
After the door's been locked and they witness the aforementioned couple sigh in defeat, Lu Han gets dragged into a conversation by his office, and Jongin retreats to the buffet table, right where the plate of mini donuts are.  
  
There are no donuts, though. They're all gone; eaten by the savages of this gathering. Although, Jongin's 99% sure he'd been the one who had more than half the plate.  
  
With great appetite comes great responsibility, Jongin muses with a shrug, and figures he should get the next box of mini and/or normal-sized donuts to appease the donut-crazed barbarians here (read: himself). So he grabs his coat and starts to make his leave, right when someone jabs his back with their finger. Jongin turns.  
  
"Going somewhere, Problem?" Kyungsoo asks, holding a fresh box of mini donuts. There's no smile on his face, as usual, but there's no bite to his words either.  
  
Jongin looks at the box on Kyungsoo's arm, takes the only glazed one in there and says, "no." As Kyungsoo moves the donuts from box to plate, and smacks Jongin's hand occassionally when he tries to reach for one, Jongin glances at Lu Han, and smiles.  
  
Reason Six: he _will_ fall in love.  
  
No, Jongin's definitely not going anywhere. He's right on track.  
  
  
  
  
---


End file.
